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There is no doubt that you can hardly keep up reading all the publications on the social web – from the economy, the trust, the marketing, the people, the hype, and the list goes on.
I have actually had ‘Viral Loop’ standing on my bookshelf for the last six months, before finding the time to read it. And even though it’s not a new publication, I need to share my thoughts and recommendations with you on what I find a small timeless masterpiece by Adam L. Penenberg.
Short about the author:
Adam L. Penenberg is a Brooklyn-based journalism professor and assistant director of the Business and Economics Program at New York University. He has written for publications that include Fast Company, Inc., Forbes, the New York Times, Slate, Wired and the Economist.
Viral Loop
Interested in knowing why some make a wild-fire phenomenon of a business on the web? This book can give you a lot of answers.
Adam takes us back right after World War II when Brownie Wise, a single mother from Dearborn Michigan, who worked as a distributor for Stanley Home Products, became a vital part of the success of the company Tupperware.
Brownie Wise was the one who came up with the idea, we today know as Tupperware parties, which in short made the company sell for billions throughout the last 50 years.
Now what does this have to do with today’s business success stories on the web? Everything! The success of Tupperware parties can be explained as a double viral loop: a woman invites her community to a party, and lets say 20 attend – the 10 might buy the product, 15 tell their community about the party and 5 might even want to host a new party.
Sounds a lot like how Marc Andressen’s newest project Ning is driven. Ning is a platform, where you can build your own community. So lets say I build a community of people who love cheese. Out of the 100 friends I invite, 60 join my network, 5 even like it so much they start their own Ning networks, and invite their friends to that network – a double viral loop.
Adam takes us with focus on viral loops and the formula for viral coefficient (also known as the viral factor), through a long string of business cases and stories behind the cases. From the well known story of Marc Andressen’s first viral company Netscape – the company who put Mr. Andressen up between the three most significant people in the development of what we know today as the World Wide Web, to the less known stories behind ‘HOT or NOT’, ‘ROCKYOU’ or the success of the social network Bebo until AOL destroyed it after buying it from the founding and married couple Michal and Xoxhi Birch.
Ad a 10-15 more case stories to the list – think you get the picture.
Finally, I will just quote the words of Seth Godin and Jeff Jarvis who praise the book.
‘In tight engaging prose, Penneberg captures the essence of the ever-scaling power of the virus. It’s not just for geeks anymore’ – Seth Godin
‘Penneberg discovers the perpetual motion machine for business and marketing… Buy this book. Catch a virus. Make a fortune.’ Jeff Jarvis
I can’t promise that you’ll make a fortune, but I promise you it will be a thought-opener, and you will most likely catch a virus.
Last but not least – visit Viralloop.com – and try out the widget, it’s part of Penneberg playing with the idea of a New Ad Unit on the web – will not spoil this part – read the book!
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